Occupational safety for churches and social bodies
Under the roof of a church or a social organisation, a parish office, counselling centre, nursery, youth centre and cemetery often sit side by side. For occupational safety these are separate areas with their own hazards, and often with different accident insurance institutions too. The risk assessment is therefore built up area by area.
- Churches & social bodies
Important: The administration of a church or social organisation is an office business; advice centres, facilities and building maintenance are not. The support group follows the economic sector, and the hazards outside the office belong to business-specific support. Different accident insurance institutions are responsible depending on the area.
Churches and social work: conversations that take their toll
Church and social work means working with people in hardship, illness or crisis. Counselling, care and pastoral work involve conversations that are draining and sometimes escalate, often with no colleague in the next room. On top of that, the buildings were rarely planned for office work.
For accident insurance, what matters is the purpose of each facility. The VBG covers religious communities, which means parishes, church districts and dioceses, including pastoral care, youth centres and visiting services. Facilities with a welfare purpose belong to the BGW even when a parish runs them: nurseries, marriage, family and addiction counselling, hospice services and clothing banks. Church cemeteries come under the Sozialversicherung für Landwirtschaft, Forsten und Gartenbau. A single organisation can therefore deal with three accident insurance institutions.
Before organising support, check what the regional church or diocese has already arranged. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, for example, covers occupational health care for its parishes through a support contract. The Evangelical Church in Central Germany has its own church occupational safety act with local safety staff. Many dioceses have also concluded a church prevention agreement with the BGW for nurseries and similar facilities run directly by a parish. Where such structures exist, the first step is to clarify which facilities they cover.
Church and social organisations: responsibility by area
| Area | Responsibility and classification |
|---|---|
| Parishes, church districts, dioceses, parish offices | Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG) |
| Pastoral care, telephone counselling, youth centres and youth clubs, visiting services | VBG, including where the facility is not legally separate from the parish |
| Nurseries, counselling services of a welfare nature, hospice services, clothing banks | Berufsgenossenschaft für Gesundheitsdienst und Wohlfahrtspflege (BGW), including when run by a church |
| Church cemeteries | Sozialversicherung für Landwirtschaft, Forsten und Gartenbau (SVLFG) |
| Economic sector and support group | WZ 94.9 religious organisations: III. WZ 88.99 other social work: III. Sheltered workshops for people with disabilities (WZ 88.10.2.2): II |
| Employee representation at church organisations | Staff representation body (Mitarbeitervertretung) instead of a works council, because the Works Constitution Act does not apply to religious communities and their charitable and educational institutions (section 118 (2) BetrVG) |
| From the first employee | Risk assessment, safety training, first-aid organisation, appointment of an occupational safety specialist and an occupational physician |
| Above 20 employees | Occupational safety committee, meeting once per calendar quarter (section 11 ASiG) |
The membership notice for each area states which institution covers it. Organisations running several areas do best to lay the notices side by side before dividing up the risk assessment. Part-time staff count proportionally towards the threshold of 20: up to 20 hours a week as 0.5, up to 30 as 0.75.
Four hazards that shape church and social work
- Lone working in advice centres. Conversations outside core hours, in small satellite offices or during home visits often happen with no colleague in the building. An arrangement is needed for how an emergency is noticed, and a way out of the counselling room.
- Assaults and threats. In social work, verbal and physical assaults are a real risk. Assessment, reporting route and aftercare belong in writing, not in a verbal understanding.
- Distressing content. Permanently engaging with hardship, illness and violence is a mental stress under section 5 paragraph 3 ArbSchG, even when it happens in conversation.
- Older building stock. Parish halls, rectories and church buildings bring narrow stairs, galleries, towers and side rooms. Traffic and escape routes, fall protection and lighting are the recurring topics there.
An assault in a counselling session that leads to an injury or a psychological reaction can be an accident at work. It then has to be documented and, where necessary, reported like any other. The reporting route and the deadlines are explained in Accidents at work in the office: reporting and deadlines.
Walking through a parish and a counselling centre: typical findings
The administrative wing is usually unremarkable. The facilities and the buildings are where things surface: counselling rooms with no second exit, side rooms and lofts used as storage, narrow stairs without a continuous handrail, galleries and towers without fall protection. On paper, the assessment of mental stress and a documented approach to assaults are almost always missing.
Safety training for paid staff and volunteers in church service
Two blocks come on top of the office standard. First, lone working and home visits: signing out and checking back in, criteria for calling it off, securing your own position. Second, dealing with assaults: de-escalation, reporting route, aftercare and who the contact person is. The same applies to volunteers as to employees, before their first activity.
Volunteers in religious communities organised under public law, for example on the parish council or in a visiting service, have statutory accident insurance without registering separately. Since DGUV Regulation 1 requires training for all insured persons, that includes them. Sexton and caretaker duties add topics of their own, such as ladders, the belfry and work in the gallery.
Related
- External occupational safety specialist: Scope of services and how support is planned for each area of activity.
- Mental stress in the risk assessment: How draining conversations and lone working are captured methodically.
- Occupational safety for kindergartens and childcare: For parishes and providers that run a nursery.
- Occupational safety committee (ASA): from when?: When the committee is required and who sits on it.
- Escape and rescue plan: office duty?: When one is required, particularly in rambling parish halls.
- Safety-officer calculator: How many safety officers a larger organisation has to appoint.
Legal basis
- Occupational Safety Act (ASiG)
- Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG)
- DGUV Regulation 1 (principles of prevention)
Frequently asked questions
Is a parish insured with the VBG or with the BGW?
The parish itself is insured with the VBG. If it runs a facility with a welfare purpose, such as a nursery or an addiction counselling service, the BGW is responsible for that facility. For the church cemetery it is the SVLFG. The membership notice is binding.
Our regional church has its own occupational safety staff. What is left for the parish to do?
First clarify which facilities the church-wide arrangement covers and which it does not. Responsibility on site for the risk assessment, safety training and first-aid organisation stays with the employer, meaning the parish or the organisation. For facilities with their own legal form, such as a diaconal association, check separately whether the arrangement applies.
Who sits on the occupational safety committee of a church organisation?
The same as in any business with more than 20 employees: the employer or a representative, the occupational physician, the occupational safety specialist and, where appointed, safety officers. The Occupational Safety Act also provides for two works council members. Because the Works Constitution Act does not apply in the church sector, the staff representation body usually takes their place. The committee has to meet once per calendar quarter (section 11 ASiG).
Other business types
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